BEIRUT (AP) ? The U.N.’s new envoy to Syria says his mission to end the country’s civil war is “very, very difficult.”
Lakhdar Brahimi‘s comments on Monday came as activists said Syrian warplanes bombed the northern town of Al-Bab, killing at least 15 people.
Brahimi told BBC TV that he is “scared of the weight of the responsibility” and that he is “standing in front of a brick wall.”
“We’ll have to see if we can go around that wall,” he said.
Syria’s violence has escalated in recent weeks. Activists said August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011, with about 5,000 people killed.
Asked if his mission is “Mission Impossible,” Brahimi said, “I suppose it is.”
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-envoy-syria-says-mission-very-difficult-084715501.html
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By Rachel Boothroyd + September 3rd, 2012
Rachel Boothroyd, legal counsel for eModeration, answers some of the most legal common questions asked by brands who want to use Pinterest to market their products. Who owns the copyright? How can you control who re-Pins content? What does the Pinteres?
Source: http://socialmediacampmcallen.org/2012/09/the-legal-implications-for-brands-of-using-pinterest/
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BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Judge Sakr Sakr charged seven men Friday, six Lebanese and a Palestinian, with attempting to kill Army personnel during recent clashes in north Lebanon.
The seven men were charged with shooting at soldiers to try and kill them, as well as illegal possession of arms. If proven guilty, they could face up to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor.
Sakr referred the men to the military investigative judge and asked for additional warrants to pursue and identify their accomplices.
Eleven other gunmen who were arrested were subsequently released after it could not be established that they participated in deadly acts of violence.
Earlier this month, weeklong clashes in Tripoli erupted between two rival districts: Sunni-dominated, anti-Assad Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite majority, pro-Assad Jabal Mohsen.
In response to the clashes, the city?s political and security figures met, agreed to a cease-fire and called for the redeployment of the Army, which then implemented a security plan to restore order in the city.
Sunday, troops detained 18 gunmen and seized quantities of arms, ammunition and military hardware in Al-Zahiriyeh neighborhood, which is adjacent to Bab al-Tabbaneh. Eleven of the men were later released.
Soldiers also carried out additional raids in search of gunmen and arms in a bid to prevent a renewal of fighting.
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BAGHDAD |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Kurdistan will keep pumping its share of national oil exports until September 15, extending a deadline for the central government to make disputed payments to companies working in the autonomous region, Kurdish sources said on Saturday.
Kurdistan had warned it would stop oil shipments again at the start of September over the payments, but two Kurdish sources said the region had decided to give Baghdad more time for payment paperwork to be sorted out.
“We decided to extend the deadline for pumping crude to September 15 as a goodwill gesture, and to give Baghdad more time to resolve the payment issue,” one source with Kurdistan’s natural resources ministry told Reuters.
The extension signaled tensions were easing in Baghdad’s long-running feud with Kurdistan over oil rights, territory and power-sharing, a dispute that is testing the country’s uneasy federal union.
In April Kurdistan halted exports, saying Baghdad had not made payments to companies working there, but it restarted shipments on August 7 with a warning they could be halted again in a month if there were no payments.
Iraq says Kurdistan’s oil shipments have fluctuated around 100,000 to 120,000 barrels per day since they restarted, below the 175,000 bpd that Baghdad says was agreed with Kurdistan.
“We want to send a message to Baghdad that we in Kurdistan are keen to help boost Iraq’s exports. If the reply on the message was positive, then we will increase export levels from the region,” the source said.
Iraq approved a payment of close to $560 million to oil producers operating in the north in return for their investment costs to develop oilfields in the Kurdish region. But officials are still waiting for the go-ahead.
Kurdish authorities say due payments that should be approved by central government could reach $1.5 billion, two Kurdish sources said.
POSITIVE SIGNS?
Kurdish oil exports make up a fraction of Iraq’s shipments, but the payment dispute feeds into a wider conflict between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds over autonomy, oil and land that risks upsetting Iraq’s fragile sectarian balance.
Kurdistan is ready to restart talks with Baghdad to end the crisis by agreeing a long-delayed oil law to hand regions more say in managing energy resources, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Rosh Nuri al-Shawish, a Kurd, said on Wednesday.
The positive tone from Shawish signaled the Shi’ite-led central government and self-governed Kurdistan may be edging towards resolving their disagreements.
The dispute is part of a broader political crisis in Iraq, where a fragile power-sharing arrangement between Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs is struggling to overcome deep splits.
Autonomous since 1991, Iraq’s Kurdistan runs its own government and armed forces, but relies on the central government for its percentage of the country’s oil revenues from the national budget.
Iraq, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves, and is seen as a major source of new oil.
(Editing by Barry Malone and Mark Potter)
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Now that the 49ers have made their roster cuts, they have a couple of steps to deal with tomorrow morning. At 9:00 a.m. PT, all non-vested players (under four years of service time) will run through waivers. Teams can submit their claims for players in what I believe is reverse order of record. I am not positive, but I believe Indianapolis does have the first priority for placing a claim, and the 49ers are pretty far down. If waivers operates like it does in many fantasy leagues, once a team places a claim, they are moved to the back of the line. SB Nation has a story stream loaded with info on roster cuts.
Once waivers runs, anybody that is not claimed immediately becomes a free agent. They can then sign to a team’s 53-man roster or sign to a practice squad. For most of the young guys clearing waivers tomorrow, they will end up on a practice squad or out of the league.
After the jump I’ve posted a rundown of all the eligible practice squad players that were released over the last week. That is followed by all the specifics about the practice squad including eligibility, salary and various applicable rules.
The reports around roster cuts included info that the 49ers were interested in signing certain players back to the practice squad if they cleared waivers. These included Michael Thomas, Michael Wilhoite and Al Netter among others. The 49ers do not have to completely fill out the eight man practice squad tomorrow.
Fullback
Cameron Bell
Wide Receiver
Ben Hannula
Joe Hastings
Chris Owusu
Nathan Palmer
Brian Tyms
Offensive Line
C/G Chase Beeler
G/T Derek Hall
T Al Netter
T/G Mike Person
C Jason Slowey
T Kenny Wiggins
Tight End
Kyle Nelson
Konrad Reuland
Joe Sawyer
Defensive Line
Patrick Butrym
Tony Jerod-Eddie
Matt Masifilo
Linebacker
Kourtnei Brown
Joe Holland
Cam Johnson
Kenny Rowe
Michael Wilhoite
Defensive Back
Anthony Mosely
Cory Nelms
Deante Purvis
Michael Thomas
Kicker
Giorgio Tavecchio
In order to be eligible for the practice squad, players must meet one of the following requirements:
It’s worth noting that a player will be considered to have served on a practice squad in a season if he were a member of a practice squad for three regular or postseason games during his first two practice squad seasons, or for one regular season or postseason game during a third practice squad season.
Players on the practice squad can earn a minimum of $5,700 per week in 2012. It is worth noting teams can pay a member of the practice squad anything above that amount but it appears as though it impacts the salary cap. For the 49ers that isn’t really an issue whatever the rule is since they’re so far under the cap at this point. Maybe that’s why the 49ers have so much room. Ballin practice squad players!
It is also important to note that once a player signs with a practice squad, with one exception he can sign with another team’s 53-man roster at any point during the season. The one exception is that practice squad players may not sign a contract with his team’s next opponent after 4pm ET six days preceding the game (10 days preceding in bye weeks). A player cannot sign a practice squad contract with one team and then leave to sign a practice squad contract with another team, unless the first team has released said player.
Finally, if a player is promoted from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, that player must remain there for three weeks and get paid the minimum salary for their status. If they are let go before the three weeks, they still receive the three weeks pay.
There is one exception to this called the Contagious Disease Addendum, which was first added in June 2010 in a side letter agreement to the last CBA. This states that if a player is promoted from the practice squad for a game because a club was given a roster exemption due to confirmed or suspected cases of contagious disease among its players, the player remains on his practice squad contract, but will be paid 1/17 of the league minimum salary. After the game he will be returned to the practice squad without having to clear waivers.
Source: http://www.ninersnation.com/2012/8/31/3284331/nfl-practice-squad-salary-rules-player-eligibility
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? By: Mark Morley, GXS,
Friday, August 31, 2012,
A recent study from Boston Consulting Group found that up to three million jobs could potentially return to the US, as around a third of large US-based manufacturers ? each with sales greater than US$1bn ? look to move manufacturing back from China to North America. The study also found that future decisions on production locations would be based on labour costs (57%), product quality (41%), ease of doing business (29%) and proximity to customers (28%). In fact, Detroit was recently highlighted as a profit centre once again as the city has started to ramp up its manufacturing base. A prime example of this near shoring activity comes from Ford, which decided to source key components from its Rawsonville plant rather than from suppliers in China.
Whilst Western companies are now working on near-shoring? and ?reverse globalisation? strategies, Chinese companies are looking to globalise their operations
This investment in US manufacturing is having the knock-on effect of helping to persuade car manufacturers to source parts from North America once again, as well as creating significant inward investment from European automotive companies looking to take advantage of any upswing in the US economy and increased consumer confidence. Thus the automotive industry in North America appears to have gone full circle, from exploring globalisation opportunities to bringing some production back home.
As mentioned above, whereas many Western companies have recently started to focus on nearshoring strategies, automotive companies based in emerging markets have conversely been looking to globalise their manufacturing operations. Chinese automotive companies have grown confidence in their car production skills, leading to OEMs such as JAC Motors establishing a new plant in Brazil to manufacture cars specifically for that market. As China?s domestic car production begins to reach a state of over-capacity amid slowing market demand, domestic car producers such as Chery, SAIC and JAC Motors are looking to explore business opportunities in other emerging markets where their cars will be accepted by local buyers. Furthermore, having a manufacturing plant in Brazil would provide an ideal stepping stone to begin selling vehicles in the more lucrative North American market as and when Chinese vehicles reach high enough quality levels to be accepted by buyers in that region.
Consumers have long been used to Japanese and Korean OEMs manufacturing vehicles outside their home market. The question now is how long it will take for consumers to accept Chinese cars being manufactured outside China
With this increased investment in North American plants and growing desires to re-shore manufacturing to their home market, it will be left to emerging market countries such as China to drive the continued globalisation of the automotive industry. It is inevitable that some Chinese OEMs will look for their suppliers to enter new markets with them in order to guarantee the delivery of key components. However, it is still unknown whether China-based suppliers will be able to scale their operations quickly enough or if Chinese OEMs will choose to source parts locally from key suppliers like Delphi, Bosch and Johnson Controls.
Consumers have long been used to Japanese and Korean OEMs manufacturing vehicles outside their home market. The question now is how long it will take for consumers to accept Chinese cars being manufactured in locations outside China. One thing is for sure: the globalisation of the automotive industry will continue for many years to come.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Mark Morley?is Automotive Director at GXS.
The AutomotiveWorld.com Expert Opinion column is open to automotive industry decision makers and influencers. If you would like to contribute an Expert Opinion piece, please contact?editorial@automotiveworld.com.
Published on Friday, August 31, 2012
Source Article from http://www.automotiveworld.com/news/oems-and-markets/95645-as-oems-near-shore-china-prepares-to-globalise
Source: http://reshoringmfg.com/as-oems-near-shore-china-prepares-to-globalise-automotive-world/
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Two major Illinois prisons and other facilities will stay open for at least another month after an arbitrator ruled Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration violated workers’ rights in rushing to close them.
Arbitrator Steven Bierig concluded Friday that the state departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice did not properly negotiate with workers over the impact of closing the supermax Tamms prison, the Dwight women’s lockup and several juvenile facilities.
Bierig ordered the government and the workers’ union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — to continue negotiating and reach an agreement on the closure process and its effects within a month.
Democrat Quinn wanted to close the prisons and juvenile lockups by Friday. But AFSCME sued and a southern Illinois judge ordered arbitration.
Source: http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/Arbitrator-Quinn-Prisons-Violated-Union-Contract-168231436.html
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Photo courtesy Christina Byun
What do you get when you combine horchata?the sweet, rice-based drink popular in Mexico, and a shot of espresso? Echo Park will soon find out when Taza of Echo Park opens in October. The take-out cafe will be shoe-horned into a tiny cube of a storefront on Sunset Boulevard, next to Herb?s Lock & Key, said co-owner Christina Byun of Highland Park. The space, which is not much larger than a living room, is small but it has required a lot of work and time to get ready to meet city building and health department standards.
?My partner and I started this project over a year and a 1/2 ago,? Byun said via email. ?We faced many obstacles with converting the space to a food/beverage establishment and can?t believe that we are only a few months away from opening our dream business.?
There are no shortage of coffee houses in Echo Park these days. In fact,? in addition to Taza, some former employees of Intelligentsia coffee are said to be looking to open ?a high-concept coffee bar? in Echo Park.
How will Taza set itself apart?? Taza will sell coffee and espresso drinks and food with what Byun describes as a ?Latin twist,? including horchata latte and espresso and guava cheese pastries. ?We are both native Angelinos and it was important to us to be a part of a community that represents Los Angeles, this is why we were so committed to opening in Echo Park,? Byun said.
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The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency might be planning to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles, but that doesn’t mean he needs to deny that he won them. In fact, the 40-year-old cancer survivor wore his accomplishments proudly during a speech he gave at a cancer conference in Montreal.
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